Cerebral Palsy

Working for a brighter future for people living with disabilities in Cambodia

Background Information

Although a reliable count of the current disabled population is not available, it is generally accepted that Cambodia has one of the highest occurrences of people living with disabilities in the world and that approximately 21% of this disabled population are children. The most common types of disability among children in Cambodia are Polio, hearing and visual problems and problems relating to the brain such as Cerebral Palsy and emotional and behavioral problems. Unlike in many other countries, the Cambodian government has made minimal efforts to help those with physical or mental disabilities – providing limited help for the deaf and blind. Very few children born with disabilities have the opportunity to go to school, and unfortunately often their families are unable or unwilling to give them the help they desperately need and deserve. Sadly, a large percentage of people in Cambodia, a predominantly Buddhist country, believe that disabled people were born with problems because of bad deeds they committed in a former life. As a result the community often has little desire to help them, for fear of becoming disabled themselves in their next life. Even those who view Cambodia’s disabled with a kinder eye, think that it would be better for them to die, in hopes that they will be reborn into a better situation or physical body. The effect of this point of view is that many are forced to exist separated from the rest of society.

Project Objectives

The Sao Sary Foundation (SSF) believes that with the right support, young disabled people can become independent members of society. SSF’s goals are to assist young disabled people using therapeutic techniques to help them live a more independent, better quality life. Our approach is a holistic one, working with patients on both mental and physical levels, aiming to improve the all around quality of life. As well as improving these young people’s physical well-being and movement capacity, therapists also teach relaxation techniques and basic literacy. Another important aim of the project is to raise awareness and educate the families and communities that the young disabled people live within, in order to change the negative attitudes currently held about disabled community members.

Pilot Case

Recently, SSF has hired second physiotherapist Sarith Suy after Pongaphotra In resigned, who has committed much of his free time to trying to educate the poor communities in Kampong Speu about the realities of physical and mental disabilities. Sarith Suy  is working with Socheat, a sixteen year-old girl with cerebral palsy, as a pilot project in the Kampong Speu province to demonstrate to her community that she can be assisted to improve the quality of her life. Since meeting Socheat in September 2009, he has sought to rehabilitate her using Motor Learning combined with Motor Relearning Program which works with patients on both a mental and physical level, improving their motivation and movement control.

The work that Sarith Suy has been doing with Socheat has so far been extremely successful, over the past year we have seen a huge improvement. “At first even her family did not believe that she could be helped,” Vichetr Uon SSF executive director said, “but after working with her for several months, she has learned to sit up on her own and even express herself to some degree,” whereas before, she could do nothing but lie in bed.” Currently, Sarith Suy visits Socheat two hour sessions each day. Since Socheat moved to live at our compound where she is better cared for and where the presence of other children provide the encouragement she needs to continue working towards being able to feed herself, and perhaps walk someday.

Aspirations for the Future

SSF hopes to be able to acquire funding to expand the project, to be able to help some of the other hundreds of children living with disabilities in Kampong Speu especially for whose have their parents situated vulnerability and infected by HIV/AIDs. For this, SSF will need more staff trained in the specialist techniques that Sarith Suy has been using with Socheat. Sarith Suy plans to train some of the older youth supported by SSF in physiotherapy techniques. He would also like to educate and train the families of children with disabilities in ways in which they can help support their children’s development. Futhermore, in order for young people with disabilities to be successful in living within their communities, there needs to be a huge shift in the currently negative perspective held of disabled people in Cambodian society. For this, the continued education of the community and the expansion of the project - to prove that the young disabled
people can indeed become independent members of society -
is of paramount importance.